AirAsia plans more stake sales in non-core firms 

The low-cost carrier, which expects S$119.3 million (US$87.7 million) in proceeds from the SATS deal, is close to selling some or all of its aircraft leasing arm and its remaining 25 per cent stake in a travel booking joint venture with Expedia Inc, its founder and Group CEO Tony Fernandes said.
The airline will also consider the sale of stakes in its food, engineering and duty free businesses in the future, although no talks on those have begun, Fernandes said.
“We are going to special dividend those things out,” he told Reuters after a media briefing on the SATS deal. “There is a whole pipeline of those assets. We do joint ventures and eventually we will dispose of those joint ventures. They are not core. But the relationship will always stay.”
AirAsia got US$100 million from its August sale of a 50 per cent stake in aviation academy Asian Aviation Centre of Excellence to CAE International Holding Ltd.
Fernandes said he hoped to complete the sale of the leasing business, which two sources in March valued at US$900 million, by the end of the year. He said talks with potential buyers had dragged on because AirAsia wanted to ensure it had the right balance between receiving a high upfront price and ensuring its leasing costs were reasonable in the future.

Win-win deal 
“I think now we have got a very good deal which is a win-win situation,” he said, without identifying the buyer.
Fernandes said he would prefer for AirAsia to keep a stake in the business rather than sell it entirely as it was doing with the SATS JV, but it was a decision for the board.
As part of the SATS deal, AirAsia will receive a 40 per cent stake in ground handling at the new Terminal 4 at Singapore’s Changi Airport, while SATS will get a 49 per cent stake in AirAsia’s Malaysian ground handling unit.